In part two of our series I want to cover email tracking protocols that you can use to ensure you are getting the most from your efforts
First, you need to understand the process of starting to track your email marketing. It’s about open rates, unsubscribes, and click-through rates. Sounds simple enough but there is a lot to set up to ensure you can get this information from the actions of your audience.
This email marketing checklist will help you remember what to do.
Know Your Objectives
Every email must have a purpose and you must create each email with that purpose in mind.
Is your email going to be used to educate, upsell a customer, cross-sell something else, onboard a user, nurture a lead, start or build a sales pitch, or something else entirely?
Set up the objectives, then determine your key performance indicators (KPIs) such as the cost of leads, the value of a lead, conversion rates, time to conversion, and anything else you want to follow with your email tracking protocols.
Set Up Each Email Correctly
You’ll want to name your campaign, set up a sender name with a reply email that is friendly to your viewer.
Next, give it a compelling subject line. Make it keyword rich and make sure it is sent to the right demographic and segment of your audience. The subject line should get the email recipient’s attention and make them curious enough to open the email.
Don’t forget the call to action. Take the time to include all aspects of each email and email campaign because it’s all-important, and each little thing makes a huge difference in results.
Most good autoresponders allow you to create email templates. You can create a layout for each type of email you use and save yourself a lot of time.
Create the Email Content You Need
Your goal for the email determines the content you include, the audience member receiving it, and their intent on checking it. You can use a mixture of original and private label content in your email marketing.
If you’re an affiliate marketer, you can use done-for-you content from your affiliate programs in each email. Create the content with your audience of one in mind in terms of the content inside and how it looks when they receive it.
Optimize the Call to Action
Another important aspect of email tracking is knowing if your call to action is actually working.
Once you’ve determined your call to action, whether it’s for them to go read another article, download a PDF, refer a friend, or to make a purchase or anything else, you need to ensure that it fits the overall message and tone of your brand.
Remember that action words work best when it comes to developing effective CTAs. Here are some commonly used ones.
- Sign up
- Subscribe
- Try free
- Get started now
These are all effective, but you can do even better. “Yes! I want to improve my traffic now” is more effective than “sign up now”.
In split testing, the addition of the word “Yes!” at the beginning of the CTA resulted in a 12% increase in clicks for a simple free webpage I gave away as a lead magnet.
Proofread to Improve Conversions
While you don’t have to be perfect, and who of us is, you should attempt to eliminate grammar and spelling errors. Check your spelling, punctuation, and ensure that your facts are correct too.
Check all links to ensure that they work.
If you do make mistakes, always own up to them by sending another email as soon as you know, correcting your errors. This gives you another opportunity to connect and increase engagement.
I am terrible as checking my own writing as I know what I want to say so that is what I see. For grammar, punctuation, and spelling, I use the free version of Grammarly. For content checking to make sure the message is clear, I use a real person.
Double Check All Links
Another really important step in email tracking is checking ALL your links. Be sure to go through your email to ensure that each link really works as you think it will. All of them, even if you copied it from the previous link!
You want the pages to load fast and the branding to look right. If you send your visitors to another page that isn’t yours, ensure you point that out before they go to it, so they’re not surprised. If it’s your landing page, there needs to be consistency with the source document to the link for it to feel safe to your audience.
Send a Test Email
Don’t ever send out an email without testing it first. Occasionally I have been in a rush and just used the preview feature. It is not the same as reading it in your inbox.
You want to look at what this email looks like in a variety of email systems such as Google and Outlook. Nothing sucks quite as much as sending out an amazing offer that looks horrible and is not understandable due to a problem. Preview all emails on various browsers, tablets, mobile devices, and so forth too.
Set up analytics in your email by using the right code in your emails as per your email marketing software. For example, adding personalization to your email message using the email software will give you another data point to track. Allowing your email software to track conversions is key to ensuring your email marketing is working as planned. It is optional in most email systems so make sure it is turned on.
